A working flight instructor in Los Angeles earns $40 to $75 per flight hour and logs 60 to 90 hours a month, which closes the gap from 250 hours to the 1,500-hour ATP minimum in 12 to 18 months. It is the lowest-paid job in your flying career and the one that makes you good at flying.
Book It Or Gift It
Every discovery flight below can be booked for yourself in the next few minutes, or bought as a gift certificate that is emailed within minutes and never expires. Same flight, same price, either way.
Most Given
One person, one instructor, and no audience. Hands on the controls from the left seat, briefed before you go and debriefed after you land.
Hands-On Stick TimePre-Flight BriefingLoggable Flight Time
Flight Length
$229Book Or Gift
Same Price
Two Seats
The same flight with a passenger in the back seat, briefed and on the intercom. Couples book it; so do parents who would rather watch than hear about it.
One Passenger SeatPiper Warrior Or ArcherHeadsets For Both
Flight Length
$299Book Or Gift
Same Price
The Nice One
The nicest airplane we put a first-time flyer in. Glass cockpit, air conditioning, leather seats, and a parachute built into the airframe rather than strapped to the person.
Turbocharged Cirrus SR22Air ConditioningWhole-Airframe Parachute
Flight Length
$499Book Or Gift
Same Price
Twin Engine
Two engines, and the airplane instrument-rated pilots move into when they start thinking about a career. Flown from the left seat with a multi-engine instructor.
Piper Seminole TwinMulti-Engine DepartureCareer-Track Instructor
Flight Length
$499Book Or Gift
Same Price
Gift It issues a real gift certificate, emailed within minutes, which never expires and credits in full toward training. Flights are limited to 180 lb per person, 370 lb combined. Questions: (818) 290-8249, 9 AM–9 PM, seven days.
SAFETY FIRST
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
SAFETY FIRST
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
A full-time CFI in Los Angeles grosses somewhere between $50,000 and $80,000 a year. The spread comes down to three things: how many students you hold, whether you also teach instrument and multi-engine, and how much ground instruction you bill. Nobody gets rich. Everybody gets to 1,500 hours.
The structure of the pay matters more than the number. You are paid per flight hour and per ground hour, not per day. A student who cancels at 7am pays you nothing, and the marine layer in June cancels a lot of 7am lessons. Instructors who earn at the top of that range are not better pilots than the ones at the bottom — they are better at filling a calendar, keeping students moving, and picking up the students other instructors have let stall.
Los Angeles helps here in a way that is easy to underrate. 355 flyable days a year means a CFI at Van Nuys works twelve months, while an instructor in Chicago or Seattle loses whole weeks and the income with them. That is the single largest regional difference in CFI earnings in the United States, and it is why so many instructors build their hours here.
Industry-wide Los Angeles figures compiled August 2026 from published rates and instructor reporting. Not our pay scale and not an offer of employment.
| Rating held | Rate premium | Full-time annual | How you add it here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base CFI | $40–$75 / hour | $50,000–$70,000 | $179/hr package rate |
| CFII — instrument instructor | +$5–$15 / hour | $60,000–$75,000 | $179/hr package rate |
| MEI — multi-engine instructor | +$10–$25 / hour | $65,000–$80,000 | in the $89,000 program |
Teaching private pilot students in a single-engine aircraft. This is where every instructor starts and where most of your hours come from, one traffic pattern at a time. The certificate itself has the reputation of being the hardest checkride in general aviation, and that reputation is earned.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Flight instruction rate | $40–$75 / hour |
| Ground instruction rate | $50–$75 / hour |
| Full-time annual | $50,000–$70,000 |
| Hours logged per month | 60–80 |
| Aircraft time while you earn it | $179 / hour, wet |
| Renewal | every 24 calendar months, FAR 61.197 |
The first add-on almost everyone takes, and the one with the shortest payback. Instrument students train year-round, book longer lessons, and cancel less because much of the work can move to the Redbird when the weather is genuinely bad. It also keeps your own instrument flying sharp, which is the part that erodes fastest.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Rate premium over base CFI | +$5–$15 / hour |
| Full-time annual with CFII | $60,000–$75,000 |
| Aircraft time while you add it | $179 / hour, wet |
| Typical time to add | 3–6 weeks |
| Logbook benefit | simulated and actual instrument time |
| Weather resilience | high — sim work still bills |
The most valuable rating on this page and the least commonly held. Multi-engine time is the scarcest commodity in a low-time logbook, and twin time is the most expensive hour there is to buy. As an MEI you build that time while being paid for it, which reverses the economics entirely.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Rate premium over base CFI | +$10–$25 / hour |
| Full-time annual with CFI/CFII/MEI | $65,000–$80,000 |
| Covered in full by | the $89,000 zero-to-airline program |
| Twin time if you paid for it | the most expensive hour in the logbook |
| Logbook benefit | paid multi-engine PIC |
| Scarcity | far fewer MEIs than CFIs |
The number people get wrong. You do not log 160 hours a month because you are at the airport 160 hours a month. You log the hours the aircraft is running, which for a busy instructor is three to four a day, five or six days a week.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Hours from commercial certificate | 250 |
| Hours needed for ATP | 1,500 (FAR 61.159) |
| Gap to close | 1,250 hours |
| At 75 hours a month | about 17 months |
| At 90 hours a month | about 14 months |
| Cost if you rented the hours instead | $223,750 at our $179 package rate |
Pay figures are industry-wide Los Angeles ranges drawn from published rates and instructor reporting, compiled August 2026. LA Flight School makes no representation about individual earnings and nothing here is an offer of employment.
You can fly a competent landing without being able to explain one. Those are different skills, and the second one is what turns a pilot who passes checkrides into a pilot other people are safe behind. The first month of instructing is humbling for exactly this reason: a student asks why the aircraft floats and you find that you know the answer with your hands and not with your mouth.
Then there is the part that airline interviewers ask about. A CFI spends a year watching someone else make mistakes at 300 feet and deciding, repeatedly and quickly, whether to correct, take control, or let it develop so they learn. That is a judgment muscle, and it is the same muscle a captain uses on a first officer's approach. Pilots who build hours in survey work or jump flying reach 1,500 hours without ever having exercised it.
There is a real downside and it is worth stating. Instructing at one field means a great deal of pattern time and very little long cross-country, and your own instrument currency quietly decays because you spend your days in clear California air teaching steep turns. Fix it deliberately: one long cross-country a month, keep the CFII working, and get the MEI so you are in a Seminole and not only a Warrior. If you want the route into the job itself, our flight instructor training page covers the certificate.
Be 18 or older, hold a commercial certificate with an instrument rating, and hold a current medical. You need two written exams — the Fundamentals of Instructing and the Flight Instructor Airplane knowledge test — plus a spin training endorsement under FAR 61.183(i) from a CFI.
Every maneuver you know, flown from the other seat, while talking continuously. It feels like learning to write with your other hand. Most candidates need 15 to 25 hours of dual and a similar amount of ground preparation, flown on the $179 package rate that enrolled students train on.
Long, oral-heavy, and unforgiving on the fundamentals — expect several hours of questions from the examiner before you touch an aircraft. It is widely regarded as the toughest ride in general aviation because you are being tested on whether you can teach, not only whether you can fly.
Do not stop at the base certificate. The CFII adds three to six weeks and immediately widens the pool of students who will book you. The MEI is the difference between building multi-engine time and paying for it, and it is quoted at enrollment like every other rating.
Track night, cross-country and instrument time separately from month one. Reaching 1,500 total hours only to discover you are 30 hours short of the 100-hour night requirement for the ATP is a common and expensive mistake.
Singles for private students, a twin for the MEI work, and a full-motion Redbird for the days the marine layer does not lift.
Van Nuys Airport, the fleet and the instructor team — 355 flyable days a year.
LA Flight School — 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406.
A CFI's earnings depend entirely on aircraft being available. These are ours — owned, hangared and maintained at Van Nuys, so a booked lesson is a lesson that flies.
Single-engine training on the Standard and Comprehensive programs is flown in the Cessna, Piper and Diamond aircraft. The Premium program is flown in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo with its full glass cockpit.
FAA-approved, fully enclosed, and it moves. For an instructor it is the difference between a canceled day and a paid one, because instrument instruction given in it still counts and still bills.
Simulator hours are built into every private pilot program — 2 hours on Standard and Premium, 5 hours on Comprehensive.
This is a page about the instructor job, so here is how we run it. Every instructor holds a commercial certificate or an ATP plus a CFI and a current medical, and is legally pilot in command on every flight.
There are eleven of them. A team that size is what lets an instructor here fly 60 to 90 hours a month without inheriting somebody else's canceled schedule, and it is why students are not passed around.
Instructors fly here as a career rather than treating the school as a waiting room. Students are matched to one and can change if the fit is wrong, which is better for the instructor as well as the student.
The reviews say more about the instructor job here than any pay table can.
The most repeated compliment in our reviews is not the aircraft or the price — it is the debrief.
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own means lessons happen when we say they will.
The number a student enrolls at is the number they finish at. Reviewers mention this constantly.
A flight instructor certificate sits on top of a private certificate, an instrument rating and a commercial certificate. If you are at the beginning, the useful first step is one hour in an aircraft.
Full-motion, FAA-approved, and never canceled for weather. Instructors use it too.
You fly the aircraft with a CFI beside you. Loggable dual instruction, credited in full against any program within 24 hours.
Sit down with a working instructor and map the route from where you are to a CFI certificate, with dates. No obligation.
Already commercial-rated? Skip straight to the flight instructor certificate — see /pages/become-a-flight-instructor-cfi-los-angeles for the training itself.
A discovery flight puts you in the left seat with a working CFI beside you for sixty minutes over Los Angeles. It logs as real dual instruction, and if you enroll within 24 hours the whole $229 comes off your program. Call (818) 290-8249, open 9am to 9pm, seven days.
A full-time CFI in Los Angeles grosses $50,000 to $80,000 a year in 2026, working out to $40 to $75 per flight hour plus $50 to $75 per ground instruction hour. Instructors who also hold the CFII and MEI ratings sit at the upper end because they can teach instrument and multi-engine students as well as private ones.
$40 to $75 per flight hour is the typical range, with CFII adding roughly $5 to $15 an hour and MEI adding $10 to $25. You are paid only for hours the aircraft is running and hours of ground instruction billed, so a canceled 7am lesson pays nothing.
60 to 90 hours a month working full time, which closes the 1,250-hour gap between the 250-hour commercial certificate and the 1,500-hour ATP minimum in about 14 to 17 months. Van Nuys gives 355 flyable days a year, so an LA instructor works year-round rather than losing whole winter months.
The flight instructor certificate is flown on our $179 hourly package rate, and most candidates need 15 to 25 hours of dual plus a similar amount of ground preparation. The CFII and MEI are added the same way, and all three ratings are covered in full by the $89,000 zero-to-airline program. The two written exams and the examiner are paid directly to third parties.
Under FAR 61.183 you must be at least 18, hold a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating, pass two knowledge tests, hold a spin training endorsement under FAR 61.183(i), and pass the flight instructor practical test. The certificate then renews every 24 calendar months under FAR 61.197.
Yes on both counts, and the MEI more than the CFII. Multi-engine time is the most expensive hour there is to buy, and an MEI builds it while being paid instead. The MEI is covered by the $89,000 zero-to-airline program and typically pays for itself within a few months of teaching multi-engine students.
No. Pipeline patrol, aerial survey, banner towing, jump flying and Part 135 cargo all build hours legally. Instructing is simply the highest-paying route available at 250 hours and the one that produces the pilot-in-command time and judgment stories that airline interviews are built around.
For most pilots it is 12 to 18 months on the way to an airline. A minority stay, and the ones who do move into chief instructor, examiner or check airman roles where the pay is considerably better than the $50,000 to $80,000 line rate. Both are legitimate; only one of them is common.
The three private pilot packages, what each one includes, the financing options and a realistic timeline built around how often you can actually fly. Sent to you in one email. Nobody will pressure you.
Loved On Google
Every review below is real and shown verbatim, in the reviewer’s own words — written by the people who learned to fly here, not by us.
SAFETY FIRST
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
SAFETY FIRST
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
Reviews shown verbatim, exactly as each reviewer published them.
Aviation News
Notes from the flight line at Van Nuys — weather, regulation changes, checkride questions and the cost of training, written up as they come.
Open 7 days · 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Los Angeles Flight School
